Viewpoints by Tim Penning from the shores of Lake Michigan to the world. Includes monthly columns appearing in the Grand Haven Tribune, as well as other random thoughts.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Being Powerless Provides Perspective

We were powerless. In more ways than one.

Like many
local residents and readers of this newspaper, we lost power in the high-wind
storm early last Friday morning. That was a loss of electrical power. But we
also felt powerless recently when dealing with the bureaucracy of the medical
and insurance industries.

Both losses
of power have given us perspective.

First we
lost the house power at 3 a.m. I was awake for the wind and noticed when the
power went out. I was hopeful it would be back on by morning.

That’s part
of the trouble of being powerless: uncertainty. We received a range of updates
from Consumers Power that went back and forth from our power would be restored
at 8 a.m. Friday, to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, to 10 a.m. Saturday, and back to 11:30
p.m. Sunday. If we only had one anticipated time for restoration of power it
would have been easier. The raising and dashing of hopes is what is so
frustrating.

As it
turned out, the power came back on at our house at 1 p.m. Saturday. This was
directly after we had moved our refrigerator and freezer foods to an
undisclosed (and powered) location for safekeeping. So we ended up defrosting
and cleaning them, and then did the laborious restocking job.

Being
without power puts you at the whim of others and makes it hard to plan. We had
to make various adaptions also—such as how to cook, disconnecting the garage
door from the automatic opener so we could come and go, and of course placing
lanterns about the house. I know, first-world problems. But it was frustrating
nonetheless.

All of this
was compounded by the fact that my wife had to go in to Grand Rapids for
several medical appointments, and her car had a flat tire. I told her to take
my car and started to work on hers by pulling out my air compressor and an
extension cord....and then realized I had no power to plug into. So I used an
old cigarette lighter air compressor, which took longer. I then left the car to
see if the air was leaking slow or fast so I could know if I could drive it to
the tire store for repair. But I left the key on. So when I went to move it,
the battery was dead.

A neighbor
came over to jump me with his jump box, but it was dead. And he couldn’t
recharge it because, you guessed it. Finally, old fashioned cables and his
truck did the job.

But this
compounded feelings of being powerless.

I mentioned
my wife had medical appointments. That leads to the other type of
powerlessness. That of being up against the medical industry and insurance
companies. We are grateful for insurance, and the care my wife receives. But
often we feel like a number in an overwhelming system. And we feel powerless.

Insurance
companies have been increasingly denying treatments. The recently denied my
wife getting a PET-CT scan to monitor if her cancer has come back. This has
been standard practice. But now the insurance company denied the doctors order
and said she could have a CT scan and a bone scan instead. These are less
precise and require two trips into Grand Rapids instead of one. If either scan
shows anything, the will likely call for a PET-CT which she could have had in
the first place.

Meanwhile,
the doctor has changed the protocol for how she gets her regular infusion to
keep cancer at bay. He has made the process more cumbersome and seemingly
unnecessarily so, given the process for the past five years. There is no
explanation for the change, just a new order to the nurses, who are confounded.
They even asked if he was sure he was talking about the same patient. Again,
she was powerless.

In the end,
with our house and our medical battles, we have gained perspective from not
having power. We need to adapt. We need to be patient. We need to accept the
fact that we are dependent on others. But ultimately, that’s a good reminder.
To be reliant not on ourselves or even a power company, but on God who is all-powerful.